Twyn-y-Big

Nearest town:
Builth Wells (6km NNW)
OS reference:
SO0464645494
OS sheet:
147
Latitude:
52° 5' 56.8 N
Longitude:
3° 23' 31.99 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by thesweetcheat

The slab set on edge to the south. Banc y Celyn stone circle is on the hill beyond.

Image credit: A. Brookes (8.4.2023)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 8, 2024
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking south-ish across the cairn. Pen y Fan on the skyline, right of centre.

Image credit: A. Brookes (8.4.2023)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 8, 2024
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

The fabulous setting of the monument from the north-west. The Black Mountains fill the skyline.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 8, 2022
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Pen y Fan and Corn Du can just be seen poking their decapitated heads above the skyline...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 10, 2022
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

I don’t normally like ‘revisits’ of lowland sites within a decade... but circumstances meant it was either hang out here... or sit in the car. You do the maths.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 10, 2022
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Looking towards Banc-y-Celyn, whence there is a stone circle....

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 10, 2022
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Clearly, this round barrow once possessed a cist/chamber of some description

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 10, 2022
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Approaching from the northwest, the backdrop panorama of The Black Mountains is arguably the finest there is.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 10, 2022
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Quite what the foreground upright is doing there... in a supposed round cairn... I’ve no idea. There was actually a further small upright behind me suggesting the mutilated remains of a possible long cairn? Dunno. Incidentally the Banc y Celyn stone circle resides beyond the ridgeline, centre

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 13, 2016
Image of Twyn-y-Big (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Due to the mutilation I found it difficult to visualise the original dimensions... or indeed shape... of this cairn. However the remaining stone work was intriguing. Great location, too. So I stayed the night nearby.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 13, 2016

Articles

Miscellaneous

Twyn-y-Big
Round Cairn
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 30, 2022

Set amongst the glorious scenery of eastern Mynydd Epynt... away from all the (unfortunately, what with Communist lunatics murdering civilians for fun in Ukraine, all too necessary) squaddie training business... south of Builth Wells, this mutilated round cairn might well draw no attention at all from those passing by upon the very minor road... even from the antiquarian-minded lacking a 1:25k OS map. Combine a visit here with the even more obscure Banc y Celyn stone circle to the north, however, and you’re laughing.

Yeah, the scenery is superb, the backdrop of The Black Mountains, viewed in profile while approaching across the hilltop to the northwest, being arguably the finest The Citizen Cairn is aware of. That of The Brecon Beacons, enjoyed by diverting the gaze a tad to the south, is worth writing home about, too. If only one still did those things.

As for the monument... OK, it is very ‘messed about with’. Nevertheless, several orthostats strongly suggest a ‘chambered cairn’ of some description to me. Coflein notes:

“A much disturbed round barrow with stone structural elements.... approximately 10m in diameter and up to 0.5m high..... Three edge-set stones are visible and appear to be part of a structure within the cairn... To the south of the barrow there is a large edge-set slab 1.05 x 0.15 x 0.6m high, aligned northeast-southwest...” [J.J. Hall, Trysor, 16/2/2009]

As it was, I happened to be in the locale for ‘logistical reasons’, but was more than happy to reprise my original 2016 visit and take advantage of the fabulous summer evening light to hang out for a while.

Sites within 20km of Twyn-y-Big

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